Gabriela Giovanardi: “The fear of staying still”

When we talk on the phone, it is 6 pm at my place and 9 am with her. Gabriela Giovanardi is, in fact, in Los Angeles on business, and even just the fact that he responds after taking a nine-hour trip right after taking part in the press conference of The sex of angels, the new film by Leonardo Pieraccioni that marks her debut as an actress, makes me understand how bionic she is. “It is as if, in these two years of the pandemic, I had saved all the energy to be prepared for today”, says Giovanardi with his voice still a little wrinkled by sleep and jet-lag, but certainly not tested in the enthusiasm that transpires from his every answer.

MATTIA CECCHETTI

Born in Castel San Pietro Terme but lived in Imola, Gabriela Giovanardi was born as a model – is the face, among others, of Guess and Candiani Denim – to then enroll in Law and, finally, indulge that predisposition to art that, after all, she always thought she had because for her creativity is something precious to be cultivated and jealously guarded. Neither The sex of angels lends her face to Margot, a call girl of French origin – “My accent makes you laugh more than anything else”he jokes – who works in the brothel in Switzerland that the priest played by Pieraccioni inherits from his uncle played by Massimo Ceccherini.

How did it come to the audition?
«I supported him in January 2020. My agent pointed out that at the beginning of my career, she had advised me several times to try cinema. I think I’ve always had a particular inclination towards everything creative and artistic. In Milan, when I started my career in fashion with great difficulty, I was attending an acting course, but I couldn’t sit still and wait ».

Why with difficulty?
“The question of fashion in Milan was a martyrdom: I was 17, and it never seemed like I was going well. Too many hips, too much breasts. Several officers told me to throw coke to lose weight or eat some cotton soaked in juice. From there I decided to move to America where, in fact, I worked without problems ».

She was courageous: many would have agreed to stay in Milan. What convinced her to move and start from scratch?
“My head. I grew up with my grandmother who got pissed when someone told me I was beautiful because she was afraid I would go frivolous, and she was right. The purely aesthetic discourse has never been part of me, even if it may seem paradoxical due to the work I do. It’s okay to work, but I have to protect myself ».

Protect from what?
“When I was 9 I lost my father and, from then on, it was almost instinctive to pull my nails out. In contexts like this, then, it was also useful ».

Not a bit scared once she moves to Los Angeles?
“I had nothing to lose: at worst, I would have spent a month in Los Angeles and perfect my English.”

Imola, where did you grow up, was it ever close to you?
“Yup. Perhaps also because of the loss of my father, I always felt out of place: it is as if my childhood was, in a certain way, stolen from me. On the other hand I have always felt hungry, a certain urge to understand who I was ».

Source: Vanity Fair

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